New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie talks in Trenton, N.J. on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 about the state's plans for a predicted snow storm. A blizzard warning for northeast New Jersey called for as much as 14 inches of snow. Up to 10 inches were possible for most of the state, with 2 to 5 inches in south Jersey. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Well, certainly not in New Jersey. The latest Quinnipiac poll has the governor at a 74 percent approval rating, which is the highest ever for a New Jersey governor. He’s running for re-election in November against state Sen. Barbara Buono, and there’s not a single human being alive who would bet against Christie in that matchup. At this point, I’m not even sure Bruce Springsteen could beat Christie.

So as far as the state goes, Christie is dandy. As he should be: He certainly seems to be fighting hard for the people of New Jersey. So hard, he’s gone and made a wide swath of Republicans despise him, thereby casting serious doubts on Christie’s path to the White House in 2016.

I first wrote about this back in December. I said “Christie has a Republican problem.” I wasn’t exactly breaking news, just breaking down Public Policy Polling numbers that showed how popular Christie is, nationally, when all likely voters are taken into consideration, but how wildly unpopular he is among Republicans.

This poll was taken in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 presidential election. Plenty of GOP attack dogs blamed Christie for Mitt Romney’s loss. Why? Basically, because Christie was seen with President Barack Obama at the Jersey Shore. As silly as that was, the problem deepened by year’s end, when Christie publicly — and loudly — called out the GOP leadership in Congress for stalling on the Sandy relief bill.

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And in recent days, the anti-Christie arm of the Republicans practically plotzed when Christie accepted Medicaid expansion for eligible New Jersey residents. To be clear: If he didn’t take the money, it would’ve gone to other states, and New Jersey’s sick and poor would be the ones taking the hit.

Summing up, then, why the right-ier wing of the Republican party loathes Christie: Because he sought to help the people of his state. Hurricane victims and sick people. What a monster.

Of course, even before all this, Christie was in some GOP crosshairs for his stance on guns (he doesn’t think everyone should be carrying around AK-47s), immigration (he doesn’t want to round up every immigrant and drop them off in Tijuana) and the environment (he doesn’t think rising tides and temperatures are God’s will.)

Add it all together, and he’s got problems if he’s still thinking about 2016.

In fact, he’s got problems right now, as Christie was snubbed when he wasn’t invited to next month’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He headlined a regional CPAC conference back in June. Things change. To give you an idea who is invited to this thing, here’s a partial list: Romney, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal … basically, anyone who thinks they have a shot to grab the GOP nomination in 2016. (Or lost a general election in 2012.) Only problem, though: None of those people can win a national election.

Christie can. Mostly because he’s not an arch-conservative or pretending to be one.

But if he can’t get the GOP nomination because the GOP insists on losing the 2016 general election, then what’s a popular governor to do?

“Is it possible New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will break off from the Republican party and run as a third party candidate for president in 2016?” I asked back in December.

I also answered my own question.

“Well, sure, it’s possible. It’s also possible a maple tree is going to sprout from my forehead. And sing ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ by the Ramones. As a waltz.”

But … maybe not so fast.

In recent days, Nate Silver — the guy who correctly called every single state in the 2012 election —wrote on his 538 blog the following: “Christie will need to consider whether to compete for the Republican nomination in 2016. While the mainstream media tends to chronically overrate the likelihood of a viable independent bid for the presidency, Mr. Christie would be better positioned to seek one than most, with very high favorability ratings among independent voters and the access to money and news media attention that comes from being a prominent politician in the Northeast.”

Of course, about a billion and one things might occur between now and 2016, but it’s never too early to speculate. And it’s never too early to think about an independent Chris Christie, Godzilla-ing his way across this fractured political system of ours.